Public comments extended on Galveston Bay coastal barrier proposal

Southeast Texas residents who want to make their case for or against a $31 billion, 71-mile "coastal spine" will have additional time to do so, Texas General Land Office officials said Wednesday. `The General Land Office is the local sponsor of the five-year, $20 million study on the coastal barrier. A draft of the study, expected to be completed in 2021, was released in October.

The land office and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have agreed to extend the current public comment period from Jan. 9 to Feb. 8. They also agreed to add a second comment period after the Corps has digested feedback from the current one. gates extending from High Island to San Luis Pass. The barrier, once known as the "Ike Dike," would be a system of levees andhe barrier, once known as the "Ike Dike,"

A Land Office spokeswoman said the Army Corps is putting language in the Federal Register establishing the 30-day extension.

An Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman confirmed the 30-day extension and said the second public comment period would be some time "after detailed engineering has been complete" on the draft study, but that an exact date has not been agreed upon yet.

Shell’s recent success in the US Gulf of Mexico includes its deepwater Dover discovery on Mississippi Canyon 612, reported last year, near its Appomattox platform. The well was drilled by the Deepwater Poseidon ultra-deepwater drillship. Sources: Shell, Transocean.

In lieu of the traditional shovel groundbreaking, Miami City Commission chair Ken Russell, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Miami city manager Emilio T. Gonzalez (pictured l-r) perform the ceremonial water toss to mark the start of the first Miami Forever Bond project tackling flooding and sea-level rise. (Photo by City of Miami Office of Communications)